Chapter Text
Things weren’t supposed to end up this way.
This truly is a cruel and unjust game.
However, if you can hear my voice…
--
Malware was truly evolving into another level, Akira thought to himself, if it could cause hallucinations by just being on one’s phone. Still, it could always be deleted by holding down the app and dragging it into the rubbish bin.
With a sigh, Akira looked back at the map on his phone. The strange vision of himself on blue fire had made him lose track of where he was, again, and he had to regain his bearings.
“Excuse me,” someone said behind him. Akira paid them no mind. Many people were shouting in Shibuya crossing and it wasn’t like he knew anyone in the city.
“Excuse me, pardon me, I’m talking to you!”
Akira looked at his phone and turned around a bit, just to see if the little navigation arrow on the map was pointing in the right direction.
“Excuse me!” A hand on his shoulder that he was definitely not expecting nearly made him jump into the air. Akira whirled around to see a boy around his age wearing what seemed to be a light brown peacoat. His red-brown eyes were fixed onto Akira in a strange, soul-searching way that instantly made Akira uncomfortable. Thankfully, it only took a second for the boy to snap out of whatever trance he had been in and he took a step back.
“My apologies,” he said with a close-eyed smile, head tilted at an angle that made him look friendly and approachable. There was no way that it wasn’t practiced. “I mistook you for someone I knew.”
“Understandable,” Akira replied, still a little shaken. “I get that a lot.” He didn’t.
“My name is Akechi Goro,” the boy said, sticking his gloved hand out for a handshake. Leather gloves. Nice. Akira shook it.
“Kurusu Akira,” he replied.
“Are you new to Shibuya?” Akechi asked. Akira let out a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head and averting his gaze.
“You could tell?” And here he was, trying to keep a low profile, too.
“I am a detective after all,” Akechi said. “And you looked pretty lost. Do you need help going where you need to go?”
Yes , Akira thought, I am super lost . “No,” Akira said instead, because the way Akechi was eyeing him was really weird, like Akira held the answer to the age-old question of the meaning of life. “It’s alright, I have google maps.”
“I see.” Akechi looked a little disappointed. It made Akira feel bad, but not bad enough to make him take back his words. “If you need a guide for Tokyo, though, I may be willing to assist you.” Saying that, he gave Akira a name card. What sort of high school student had a name card? Unless Akechi was secretly Actually An Adult, which made this interaction all the weirder and even mildly sinister.
“Thanks,” Akira said, taking the card. “I’ll be sure to do that.” He wouldn’t. “But I really do need to go now. I’ll see you… when I see you.”
And then he hurried away.
-o-
It was an ordeal and a half to find Sakura Sojiro, but Akira somehow managed due to the power of google maps and asking around. Maybe Akira was being a little dramatic here, but he felt that he deserved it, thank you very much.
His meeting with Sojiro was… cold to say the least. Hearing him talk about the case, about how Akira shouldn’t have stepped in to help that woman, that Akira should have just cast a blind eye to the situation, made the blood in Akira’s veins burn burn burn, nails biting into the palms of his hand. It was the same thing all the adults around him had told him. Keep your head down, buried under the ground, and everything will be okay.
The fire in Akira’s chest simmered but his face gave nothing away. He didn’t bother to explain himself either. It wasn’t like anyone was going to listen to him, anyway.
-o-
Akira chalked the dream of the strange, long-nosed man and the twin wardens to the lingering effect of the stress of his situation and that goddamn malware.
-o-
She was beautiful, even in the dim light. She has long blonde hair tied into two high ponytails and an appearance that was clearly not full Japanese. She looked glumly up into the dark clouds and let out a sigh. Even in melancholy she was ethereal, she was--
Looking at Akira while Akira was staring at her like some weird creep.
Akira fought back a flush of embarrassment as he nodded at her in order to seem less like a creep. She seemed a little stunned and stared at him with wide eyes, so he probably didn’t succeed.
“Do…” she began, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
Akira winced. God, he totally deserved to be called out.
“You seem familiar to me,” the girl said. “Have we met before?”
The conversation was like a splash of cold water. For some reason, he was reminded of Akechi.
“No,” Akira said. “I think I just have one of those sort of faces.”
Thankfully, before an incredibly awkward conversation could ensue, a car pulled up in front of them. The window rolled down and Akira could recognise the teacher he met the other day.
“Good morning,” the teacher said to the girl. “Do you want me to give you a ride to school? You’re going to be late otherwise.” Akira was very thankful to be treated like air.
The girl accepted his invitation and walked towards the car. The teacher then shifted his gaze to Akira and smiled. It made Akira’s skin crawl.
“Do you need a ride too?” the teacher offered.
And die? Akira thought to himself. “I’m fine,” he said with a bashful smile, waving his hand. It was obvious that he was only invited out of courtesy and that he shouldn’t accept.
The teacher didn’t press the matter as the girl slid into the front seat. Her expression didn’t seem very happy and Akira had half a mind to unceremoniously climb into the car anyway because he did not trust that teacher to be alone with a student, not when she showed such an expression.
But the window was already rolling up and the car moving away. She’ll be fine , Akira tried to comfort himself. That man is a teacher .
A blond boy ran towards the car but, when it pulled away, he stopped with an expression of anger and frustration on his face.
“Dammit!” he hissed. “Screw that pervy teacher!”
Akira should have gotten in the damn car.
“Pervy teacher?” he parroted, wanting to learn more. The blond boy turned around and blinked. And then he frowned, stalking towards Akira. Akira tried to shuffle back but was cruelly reminded that he was already leaning against a wall and hence had nowhere else to go.
The boy leaned in close to Akira’s face, squinting. Akira could feel a flush building up because while the boy had an air of crudeness around him, he was still rather attractive.
“Hey, have we met? You look familiar,” the boy said.
“i just have that sort of face.” Because apparently he did. Three times in the few days he’s been here! Did he have an evil twin in the city?
“Anyway,” the boy leaned back. “I’m talking about Kamoshida. Who does he think he is, king of the castle?”
Did Akira’s evil twin know this guy?
“King of what castle?” Akira asked. “And who’s Kamoshida?”
“The bastard in the car,” the boy replied. “C’mon, you’re from Shujin too right? Everyone knows Kamoshida.”
“I’m new actually,” Akira said dryly. “Just transferred to Shujin.”
“Makes sense that you don’t know Kamoshida then. But you look really familiar. You sure we haven’t met before?”
“It’s my first time in the city.”
“Huh.” The boy threw him another scrutinizing glance before shrugging. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s go, the rain’s light enough for us to run.”
And run they did, right up until they found a giant castle where their school was supposed to be. With a sinking sort of suspicion, Akira tugged out his phone and looked at the screen.
Honestly, fuck malware.
-o-
“I see what’s happening,” Ryuji said with narrowed eyes. “You’re all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida, after all.”
“I am not!” Ann yelled. She turned to Akira, eyes wide. “You know me, you know I’m not like that!”
Akira nodded awkwardly, thinking to himself that he knew nothing at all.
-o-
Ryuji punched the wall.
“I should have done something,” he snarled.
“You didn’t know that this was going to happen,” Akira said, looking out of the window. Students were crowded around Shiho’s unconscious body, pushing and shoving to get a closer look. He could hear the wail of sirens in the distance.
“I just felt like I could’ve done something,” Ryuji muttered.
-o-
Halfway through exploring the castle, Ryuji fell to his knees, clutching his head.
“Skull?” Akira’s voice was calm on the surface but he felt a startling current of fear and anxiety course through him. Anything could go wrong here, in this nonsensical place where schools became castles, guards with glowing red eyes became mythological creatures, and a creepy teacher became… a creepy and disgusting teacher.
Akira thought back to the last battle, where a winged creature -- Pixie , a voice whispered in the back of his head, I am thou and thou art I -- zapped Ryuji with a bolt of lightning. Ryuji said he was fine, didn’t even feel anything, but normal people don’t usually take a face full of electricity and live to tell the tale.
Even Morgana had stopped, helping Akira keep a lookout. The usual ribbing he had for Ryuji was absent and the silence made Akira nervous.
Akira knelt down in front of Ryuji and stuck out his hand.
“Skull,” his voice was softer now, more nervous. “Do you need help, do you need healing?”
Ryuji shook his head, eyes going back into focus. He took Akira’s hand and pulled the both of them up to his feet.
“It’s alright, just some sorta dizzy spell,” Ryuji said. “I’m fine.”
You don’t have to continue now , Akira wanted to say. We can regroup, take a rest and then push on another day.
Ryuji’s face was expectant. Eager to keep on going.
“Alright, if you’re sure,” Akira said instead and started to wonder when was it that he started to say things he did not mean.
(missed birthdays and calls going unanswered)
Later on, after successfully zapping an enemy with a weakness to electricity, Ryuji made a strange, aborted move to high-five Akira.
When asked about it later, he merely frowned down at his hands.
“Dunno, just seemed natural,” he said. “Seemed right.”
-o-
They whooped and cheered after getting out of the castle.
“I wish things could stay like this forever,” Ann said, a touch of melancholic wistfulness in her tone.
-o-
Akira was worried. Ann and Ryuji hadn’t messaged him nor answered his messages ever since they had gone back after stealing Kamoshida’s heart.
If something happened to them, Akira didn’t know what he’d do.
They hadn’t gone to school the next day either, and Akira was about to lose his mind. The only saving grace was that Kamoshida was absent from school as well.
Morgana told him that they’d be fine, that he should have trust in his friends.
Akira repeated that mantra in his head, over and over, as he made his way back to LeBlanc.
And the mantra stopped immediately, complete with the sound of a scratched record, when he saw who was sitting inside, in a counter seat.
“Hi,” Akechi Goro said with a pleasant smile. His eyes, underneath a thin veneer of calm, looked wild. “What a coincidence to see you here!”
Akira would bet his entire left ass that it wasn’t a coincidence.
“Come, take a seat!” Akechi said, patting the stool beside him.
“Uh,” Akira said. He glanced at Sojiro who was looking at him curiously.
“Is he your friend, Akira?” Sojiro asked.
No he isn’t, Akira thought to himself. He’s just some guy who I met on my first day here and he seems to have imprinted on me like some baby duck.
He caught Akechi’s eye.
“Yes,” Akira’s damn traitorous mouth said. “We’re friends.”
Akechi’s face lit up like a sun lamp.
“Why don’t the both of you go up?” Sojiro offered, likely because Akira was both blocking the door and causing a scene.
“Actually,” Akira said, ready to say no and then immediately leave.
“Okay,” Akechi said brightly at the same time, talking over Akira. He stood up and grabbed Akira’s arm. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“Hrrrr,” was Akira’s dying message as he was dragged up the stairs.